Bite Club Page 0,15

he said, pointing. She pushed, and it opened, cutting off the buzz. It swung shut behind her as she stepped through, and if it locked, she couldn't hear it over the noise.

Amazing that she'd missed it on the other side of the barrier, because this gym wasworking. The clang of free weights hitting supports. Solid, heavy clunks from the weight machines as men and women sweat, grunted, and worked at the stations. Whirring wheels on exercise bikes. And in the center of the room, a large open space with mats in the middle, and about thirty people dressed in white martial arts clothes, kneeling with their hands on their thighs, all facing in toward the middle.

Claire looked quickly around, and although she recognized some of those doing the straight exercise stuff, she didn't see Shane or Eve among them. She edged around toward a stair-climber not in use and stepped on so she could get a better vantage point of the class in progress. Whoever had used it before her had set it to murderous levels; she had to back off on the resistance almost immediately, and so she almost missed Shane, who was sitting facing the mat at an angle.

She spotted him only because he got up and walked to the center of the mats. He wore his uniform well, she realized, like he'd done this before. Maybe he had. He had that look, the one she recognized from watching him fight, though those had been more down-and-dirty street things than martial arts bouts. He wasn't looking at anything but the man facing him.

Shane was a pretty big guy for his age--broad shouldered, kind of tall. And he had at least a foot on the man facing him, who looked frozen at the age of about thirty.The vampire instructor, Claire thought. He had long hair he'd tied back in a ponytail.

They bowed to each other formally and settled back into some kind of stance, almost mirroring each other.

Shane kicked, high and fast. The vampire ducked and let Shane's momentum spin him out of position, and with one economically placed, almost gentle push, sent him tumbling to the mats. Shane rolled and came up with his hands out, ready to defend, but the vampire was just standing there, watching him.

"Nice attack," he said. "But I can move out of the way of a kick. You'd do much better to move in close, reduce my reaction time. It's the only real chance you have, you see. You need to remember how much faster we can move, and how much more observant we are of things like shifts of weight and eye movements."

Shane nodded, shaggy hair rippling around his hard, intent face, and took two quick, light steps in to close the distance. He struck as he did it, and even though he didn't land the punch, he came closer. The vampire's open hand stopped it less than an inch from his face.

He hadn't flinched.

"You're quick," he said. "Very quick, and unless I miss my guess, very well accustomed to fighting all sorts of enemies. You're young to be so angry, by the way. That can be either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on who you're fighting. And why."

Shane fell back into a waiting stance and didn't answer. The vampire gave him a little one-more-time signal, and Shane went for a punch...but it was a distraction, and this time, his kick actually hit the vampire in the side of his knee, forcing a shift in balance.

The vampire, without seeming to even think about it, spun and kicked Shane right off the mat. He tumbled across the wood floor and into the kneeling students like a ball into bowling pins. They scattered.

Claire gasped and gripped the stair-climber handles more tightly, resisting the urge to jump off and run to him. He was already rolling up to his feet--slower than last time, granted--and walked back to the mats. He put his right fist against his left palm, put feet together, and bowed.

The vampire bowed back. "Again," he said. "I congratulate you on being the first to actually touch me. Now see if you can hurt me." He bared his teeth in a savage little smile. "Come on, boy. Try."

Shane settled into attack stance again, and then, very suddenly, it wasn't all about the polite martial arts form at all. He went all street fighter, and the vampire wasn't prepared for it. In fact, despite the vampire's being faster and deadlier, Shane got him